Echo Park Layout and Vacation Layout

Hello there!  Back again to share some layouts I have made quite a while back.  I had two pictures sitting on my desk FOREVER waiting for just the right paper.  I finally got tired of looking at them and figured I'd make whatever I had on hand work.  I chose to go with a fun summer line from Echo Park.  I used a sketch, but for the life of me cannot remember where from.  

I wanted to get a picture of these meals that I crave.  I LIVE for these meals!  Wilted lettuce salad, green beans, taters and corn on the cob all from the garden (either my parents or ours) and a good ole' steak bbq'd up by the grillin' king, my hubby, Chris.  Saying these meals are delicious does NOT do them justice.  So I grabbed a pick and by the end of the meal it was obvious that Maddy loved it too as she had food all over her face.  

And a close up of the titling, journaling and stitching.  

 A while back my friend Karen was purging her scrappy items.  She came across this layout she had completed but hadn't put pictures on it yet.  I jumped at the offer as it was stinkin' cute and perfect for some vacation photos I had waiting to be scrapped.

I loved how there was a smaller page on top of a larger page.  I want to try this myself sometime!  So fun!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Echo Park Layout for The Paper Variety

I created this layout using a sketch from Sassy Little Sketches. I have had this paper from Echo Park for a while now! I thought it went well with these pictures of my adorable nephew.

I'm linking it too the Paper Variety's challenge this week.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

The Paper Variety Challenge

This is a layout I will be giving to my mom for Christmas. It is also for the Paper Variety challenge, to humorous layout, card or project. Anything that makes you chuckle.

These pictures make me chuckle. They are over my nephew. My mom had a large tub of dolls from her childhood. The little black baby that my nephew is chewing on is my Grandpas! I thought it funny that my mom put him right in the tub to play with them all. Amazing how much more laid back my parents are with toys and the grandkids than they were with us! I wasn't allowed to play with those dolls til I was a teacher! haha!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend in store for you!

Another Day in Paradise

Here is my second layout based on a fantastic sketch by Helen at Scrap a Little.

I was trying to ink the papers and photos with black ink. I proceeded to get in on a couple spots on my white paper so inked it all up to make it look like I wanted it that way!
I added some fun stickers on to the photos, did a little doodling and a lot of black inking. I had so much fun with this layout and it was super quick and simple! Echo Park sure made it easy to create quick layouts with their fun stickers and patterned papers.

I started following Tessa's blog a while back after seeing some of her yummy Etsy goodies on a friends blog. This month she has something called Attitude of Gratitude on her blog. You can read about it here. She even has a beautiful mini album kit up for sale at her Etsy store, here. I think it is such a neat neat idea! I don't plan on doing the daily blogging, but I would love to make a mini sometime soon!

Thank you for stopping by!

2 Page Echo Park Layout and First Day of Scool

I just love this Echo Park line, Splash! LOVE the colors! I created this layout using a sketch from Nuts About Sketches. It was for a color challenge at Birds of a Feather.

A super simple layout.
In case you wanted to see each page closer.
The pictures are from our road trip last summer to see my brother in law and sister in law who lived in Core D'Alene Idaho. We were supposed to pull our trailer over there and camp nearby. But, we lost the transmission in our truck. :-( We debated cancelling the whole trip. I am so glad we didn't as we had a lot of fun. We took the kids to Silverwood Theme Park. What a neat neat place! I'd love to take them back some day! I wasn't sure what to expect, so bought a disposable camera. I was quite disappointed in how they came out.

I'm entering this into the TPV challenge this week, which was to use stickers. The big flourish/wave and the sun journaling spot are stickers. The title is alpha stickers too!

Monday was Peyton's first day of Kindergarten! He was VERY excited! If you look closely, you'll see Maddy had her back pack on too. She thought she got to go too!
This is what happened when I asked Peyton to smile and show how excited he was.
I was so proud of him. he walked right in, sat where the teacher told him to sat and that was that! :-) No tears, no 'Mommy don't leave me', nothing! Poor Maddy sat down next to him and refused to get up! I had to pack her out. :-(

Thanks for stopping by!

July 2011's Project 12

I have been LOVING participating in Project 12. I think it is the neatest idea and one I will treasure for a long long time! My journaling struggles sometimes. I document events and wish I would be better documenting about the kids, the things they say and their personalities. Hopefully I can remember to do that in August.

I loved July's sketch! This Echo Park line jumped out to me when I was going through my papers.
July was such a busy month that journaling spot wasn't big enough! :-0 I drew a line around the edges of the kraft paper just to give it a more finished feel. This layout is very simple. I ran out of time and ran out of ideas on how to jazz it up.
Those little glass beads on the banner, or whatever they are, I found at my Grandpa's house while cleaning it after the estate sale. I thought they'd be perfect for scrapbooking!

In case your wondering about the journaling it went something like this: July started with the end of Em's summer visit. Followed by the 4th of July with a bbq at a friends house and watching the fireworks from the front lawn. Peyton had gymnastics twice a week (which he LOVED) and we also had the library summer reading program. The grandparents kept the kids for a weekend so Chris and I could attend the Customer Appreciation Concerts put on by his work. We had A BLAST seeing Dirt Drifters. My Uncle Dale passed away. We ended the month camping at Walton Lake (love that place) and attending a cousin significant others funeral and spending time with the family. We were on the run a lot. Anytime we knew we were going to be at my moms, she'd fill up the pool for them. They spent HOURS in this pool with a slide.

Thanks for stopping by!

Em's Visit Layout using Echo Park

I created this layout a while back for a Birds of a Feather crop. I used the Little Girl line by Echo Park! I used pink! I used pink! Are you shocked? I am! ;-)

I apologize for the bad pictures. I couldn't get a good one at the time and have forgotten to go back and retake it. Looking at it here, I wish I hadn't put that bird sticker on there...its to cluttery right there. I'm wondering if I can pull it off without messing up the layout?
Every summer my Cousin Emily and her two girls come up to visit us. I look forward to their visits every year! I sure wish they lived a lot closer so we could spend more time together. I'm so far behind, that these are pictures from last years visit!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Stuck On U Sketches & Creative Cuts & More Summer Mini Album Blog Hop

Welcome to the Summer Mini Album Blog Hop sponsored by Creative Cuts and More! The hop is being hosted by Stuck On U Sketches and Creative Cuts and More (their blog is Die Cut Diva).

I am so honored, Terry at Creative Cuts and More called and asked me if I'd be interested in participating in this mini album blog hop! Of course I jumped at the opportunity! Today's blog hop consists of Design Team members from both Stuck On U Sketches and Creative Cuts and More (which I have previously designed for). If you want to start at the beginning now, head over to Stuck On U Sketches. Make sure to read to the very bottom where you will find a coupon code to Creative Cuts and More.

I started off with the Circle Window 6"x6" Album. The Sweet Summertime line by Echo Park jumped out at me when I found out the theme was summer.

I opted to let the chipboard show. I'm loving the look of kraft on my layouts and figured I would test it out on a mini. I'm really happy with out it came out. I fussy cut clouds and the banner triangles and then used the Echo Park alpha stickers for the title. The grass at the bottom was cut using a Sizzix die and then overlapping the pieces a tad.

This is the inside cover! I'm still not 100% sure exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I have a few ideas rolling around in my head. I think I might add some photos to the right page above and below the circle.

A close up of the inside of the cover.

I was inspired by the pinwheel patterned paper and pinwheels in some of the stickers. I created my own pinwheel on the left hand side.

Here I used the super cute Filmstrip (small) and put different patterned papers underneath.

I made a couple more of those fun little pinwheels.

I used the Scallop Oval Fram #02 - Large on these pages. I cut them in half. The butterflies are from a couple Martha Stewart punches I have.

I just love these flowers. They are two of the Flower #06 - Small. I layered two of them and used a sticker for the center.

I have recently seen some really cute pop up cards. I got to thinking that they would be fun to put in a mini!

This is the Pop Up 2A Insert Horizontal Pop Up Bar.

I used a Scallop Circle Frame Small on each of these pages.

I used the Pop Up card insert again on the final page.

And the final page...I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the center. Maybe 'Made by' and the year. Maybe a quote. I used the Filigree Square Label with Squares.

Kudos to you if you made it through all those photos!

Now hop on over to Kim Langhorst's blog!

Make sure to:

1. Become a follower of each blog

2. Leave a comment on each blog

3. Leave a comment on Die Cut Diva letting Terry know you stopped at all the blogs.

Die Cut Diva will then pick one lucky winner that will in our amazing blog hop give away that is sponsored to us by Creative Cuts & More. The winner will be announced on the SOUS and Die Cut Diva Blogs on August 5th. So do stop by and see if you are the lucky winner!

The hop today consist of DT members from both Stuck On U Sketches and Creative Cuts and More. We will be showcasing the minis in alphabetical order and the order is as follows.

Beginning at the SOUS Blog then on to:

1. Annette Gearside

2. Beatriz Guzman

3. Becky Voth

4. Bonnie Friesen

5. Dawn Gallop
6. Dawn Lotharius
7. Fern Riley
8. Kayla DuPont <-----YOU ARE HERE
9. Kim Langhorst <-------GO HERE
10. Kristine Reynolds
11. Leah Schaeffer
12. Melissa Waldorf
13. Nanne Harry
14. Noelle Reese
15. Sandi Clarkson
16. Stine Ursin
17. Taylor Usry
18. Wanda Boardley
19. Die Cut Diva

With that being said, I hope you hop along and enjoy all the inspiration and eye candy! Your first stop is SOUS. Thank you so much for stopping by today and have fun!

One more quick thing, Creative Cuts & More is also offering our readers a 20% discount this week! Just use discount code SOUS20 during check out to save 20% off your entire order!

Echo Park My Little Travelers Layout

When I saw this layout, I knew instantly that I wanted to lift it. Love everything about it! So much so, I'm sure I'll use it for inspiration again in the future!

I've had this adorable Little Man line by Echo Park for a bit now and thought it perfect for these pictures of the kiddos in their car seats. They are such good travelers (most of the time). We tend to go a lot and since moving 35-40 min. from our hometown, we seem to spend a lot more time in the car. They were just too darn cute to not take pictures of this particular day. No, I wasn't driving, Chris was.

This line was SO much fun to work with! Its super busy, but I like it! :-)

I LOVE the alpha stickers that come with the kit. I inked everything with a dark color.
The banner in just orange wasn't doing it for me. So I layered it a couple times.
I fussy cut a cloud, then traced and cut it out of the blue and white polka dot paper.
I had so much fun with this layout! Thank you April for your inspiration!

I'm posting it over at The Paper Variety for their photo challenge this week too! LOVE the colors in the photo shared. Go check it out! That photo is FULL of great ideas!

We were invited to a bbq on the 4th of July. Pinterest can be a bad thing for me. I found these and knew I had to make them for the bbq:
Strawberry Margarita Jello Shots! Man were they delicious and didn't last long at the bbq we went too! Not the best of pictures...but what can I say, I'm not a good photographer. ;-)

I also made some of these:
The kids LOVED the chocolate dipped pretzels.

And finally these:

Our friends have the PERFECT house for summer bbq's.

Maddy had fun in the pool. Peyton fell in. It was quite funny, but he didn't think so.
Above, the kids were not scared of the rubber fishy (like the rubber ducky) war that was going on! Those fish were whizzing. Peyton still has a bruise where he got tagged with one! :-0 He didn't cry when he got hit though and it didn't stop him from continuing to gather the fish that escaped the pool!

Yes...a few hours of sun and play and we come home and do this:
Okay, WE didn't, Chris, Peyton and Maddy did!

Thanks so much for stopping by!